Written questions by Slade.

What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to increase funding for emergency services.

The Government is committed to supporting our vital emergency services.That is why in 2025/26 we have increased health spending by £22.6 billion relative to 2023/24, policing funding by £1.1 billion and standalone Fire and Rescue Authorities by £65.5 million compared to 2024/25.Funding settlements for emergency services over the next three years will be set out in June’s Spending Review.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of methodological changes to the classification of certain types of accommodation between the 2011 and 2021 censuses by the Office for National Statistics on local authorities' Housing Delivery Test results.

The established methodology for official statistics on housing supply utilises the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) census to improve the quality and reliability of these statistics. The census dwelling count is subject to intensive validation processes and address matching and provides the baseline for the net additional dwellings statistics. A comparison of total dwelling stock counts between the 2021 and 2011 censuses led to adjustments to some of the net additional dwellings figures, which are used as the basis for the Housing Delivery Test (HDT). This only affected the 2020/21 delivery year in the latest HDT 2023 statistics. Following discussions with the ONS and with some relevant local authorities, we believe that in limited and specific cases these census adjusted figures are not appropriate to use for the purposes of the HDT. We are therefore in contact with relevant local authorities and have issued recalculations where needed.

Communities and Local Government, when her Department will publish the response to the consultation entitled Enabling remote attendance and proxy voting at local authority meetings, which closed on 19 December 2024.

Our consultation on remote attendance and proxy voting closed on 19 December, and results will be published in due course. The consultation aimed to consider how to support the local government sector to modernise democratic engagement and remove unnecessary barriers to participation.

Whether she plans to review the thresholds for Small Business Rate Relief to reflect changes in rateable values ahead of the 2026 revaluation.

Currently, Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR) is available to businesses with a single property below a set rateable value. Eligible properties under £12,000 will receive 100 per cent relief, which means over a third of businesses in England (more than 700,000) pay no business rates at all. There is also tapered support available to properties valued between £12,000 and £15,000, which an additional c.60,000 businesses benefit from. The Government is committed to retaining SBRR, which is a permanent relief set down in legislation. As highlighted in the Transforming Business Rates Discussion Paper published at Autumn Budget 2024, the Government is interested in hearing stakeholders’ views on the extent to which the current system acts as a barrier to investment and specifically, whether the current eligibility criteria for SBRR impacts businesses' incentives to invest and expand into a second property.

Whether the Office for Students will be required to provide a third category for registration; and whether this will take into account the specialised environments of small specialist providers.

I refer the hon. Member for Mid Dorset and North Poole to the answer of 18 March 2025 to Question 36617.

What assessment she has made of the potential merits of excluding CCTV systems used for security purposes from business rates valuations.

At the Autumn Budget, the government published the Transforming Business Rates Discussion Paper, which sets out priority areas for reform. This paper invites industry to help co-design a fairer business rates system that supports investment and is fit for the 21st century. In summer, the Government will publish an interim report that sets out a clear direction of travel for the business rates system, with further policy detail to follow at Autumn Budget 2025. Improvement Relief was introduced in April 2024 and provides 12 months of relief for qualifying improvements to a property, including installation of CCTV where this increases a property’s RV.

How much funding her Department plans to provide for (a) dance, (b) drama, (c) music and (d) musical theatre higher education courses in each of the next three years.

The department is determined that the higher education (HE) funding system should deliver for our economy, for universities and for students. The HE sector needs a secure financial footing, which is why, after seven years of frozen fee caps under the previous government, we took last year the difficult decision to increase maximum tuition fee limits for the 2025/26 academic year by 3.1%, in line with the forecast rate of inflation.In return for the increased investment we are asking students to make we expect the sector to deliver the very best outcomes, both for those students and for the country.Additionally, the government provides annual funding to the HE sector through the Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG), which supports teaching of expensive-to-deliver subjects, access and participation and world-leading specialist providers.My right hon. Friend, The Secretary of State for Education will shortly issue guidance to the Office for Students, setting out SPG funding for the 2025/26 academic year and her priorities for it. Funding for subsequent years will be agreed following the government’s spending review.

Innovation and Technology, what estimate he has made of the (a) quality and (b) total area coverage area for (i) 5G and (ii) other wireless data reception in Mid Dorset and North Poole constituency; and what steps he is taking to help improve 5G coverage in those areas.

According to Ofcom’s Connected Nations report (published on 5 December 2024) 92% of the Mid Dorset and North Poole constituency has 4G geographic coverage from all four mobile operators, while 85% of the constituency has 5G geographic coverage from at least one operator. I have raised my concerns about the accuracy of their coverage reporting with Ofcom and I welcome their continuing efforts to make improvements.The government wants all areas of the UK to benefit from good quality mobile coverage. Our ambition is for all populated areas, including communities in Mid Dorset and North Poole constituency, to have higher-quality standalone 5G by 2030.Improving 5G coverage is primarily the responsibility of the mobile network operators, but we continue to challenge and work with the mobile industry and are committed to ensuring we have the right policy and regulatory framework to support investment and competition in the market.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure that the funding made available to ICBs for primary care can be used by GP surgeries to develop plans for premises improvement that will extend beyond the financial year in which an application is submitted.

The Government is committed to delivering a National Health Service that is fit for the future and recognises the importance of strategic, value for money investments in capital projects, such as new facilities, significant upgrades, or other targeted capital investments to ensure we have world class infrastructure across the entire NHS estate.At a local level, the relevant integrated care board is responsible for deciding how the NHS budget for its area is spent and for allocating funding according to local priorities, such as new general practice (GP) surgeries or integrated care centres/neighbourhood hubs.At the Autumn Budget, we established a dedicated capital fund of £102 million to deliver approximately 200 upgrade schemes to GP surgeries across England, supporting the improved use of existing buildings and space, boosting productivity, and enabling delivery of more appointments. This funding represents a first step in delivering the additional capital the primary care sector needs.Further support for NHS organisations delivering local and national priorities beyond this financial year is being considered in the 10-Year Health Plan and as part of phase 2 of the Spending Review.

Innovation and Technology, what progress he has made on the Shared Rural Network (SRN) since July 2024; and what SRN projects are underway in Mid Dorset and North Poole constituency.

Since July 2024, we have activated 40 government funded masts under the Shared Rural Network, providing new 4G coverage to rural communities across Great Britain. At the end of 2024 Ofcom confirmed that the programme had also hit its objective of helping to deliver 95% coverage a year ahead of schedule. In Mid Dorset and North Poole, outdoor 4G coverage from all four operators has increased to 92% up from 85% since the programme begun in March 2020. There will not be any further coverage improvements from the Shared Rural Network in Mid Dorset and North Poole.

What estimate she has made of the savings to her Department from the withdrawal of funding for non-specialist assistive software through the Disabled Students' Allowance.

Funding under the Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) is in general not available for goods and services that may be needed by the general student population, whether disabled or not. The department has withdrawn funding for non-specialist software as this falls outside the scope of the DSA. We will monitor the savings from the implementation of this policy.This policy change relates to non-specialist spelling and grammar software only. The decision to remove non-specialist spelling and grammar software from DSA funding was made on the grounds that there are now free to access versions available with the required functionality to meet students’ disability-related support needs, and it is therefore not an effective use of public money to continue to fund this type of software through the DSA.

Innovation and Technology, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works in protecting artists against breaches of artistic copyright by AI models.

The Department has not made its own assessment of the effectiveness of the Berne Convention in relation to AI models.However, a recent meeting of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which is responsible for the Berne Convention, included a session on the use of artistic and other copyright works by AI models.The UK participated in this session and will continue to engage with WIPO and with other international partners as we consider the way forward on this important topic.

Which groups were consulted on the withdrawal of funding for non-specialist assistive software through the Disabled Students' Allowance.

The department engaged with individual disability experts with relevant experience to gather feedback on the proposals. These experts were consulted in a personal capacity, and the department is therefore not able to provide their personal information.This policy change relates to non-specialist spelling and grammar software only. The decision to remove non-specialist spelling and grammar software from Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA) funding was made on the grounds that there are now free to access versions available with the required functionality to meet students’ disability-related support needs, and it is therefore not an effective use of public money to continue to fund this type of software through DSA.

Communities and Local Government, whether she has made an assessment of the benefit of including the Garden Trust as a statutory consultee to planning decisions.

The Gardens Trust is currently a statutory consultee on “development likely to affect all registered gardens or parks”. I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 10 March 2025 (HCWS510).

What recent assessment she has made of the impact of the current caps on the values of fines available to local authorities outside London on driver behaviour.

No recent assessment has been made. A number of parking sector stakeholders conducted research recently into this complex issue, and it has been submitted to the Department. Officials will be reviewing the research and its findings in due course.

With reference to the ongoing e-scooter trials, what recent assessment she has made of the impact of e-scooters on (a) the modal shift of transport away from private cars and (b) reducing traffic congestion in trial areas; and what estimate she has made of the number of collisions involving e-scooters.

The first national evaluation of the e-scooter trials was published in December 2022. This found that e-scooters increasingly replaced private motor vehicle or taxi use over time (from 12% of journeys in March 2021 to 21% in December 2021). 42% of e-scooter trips replaced walking journeys in December 2021, and 9% of e-scooter journeys in the same period would otherwise not have been made. Statistics on road collisions are collected via data reported to the Department by police forces. Provisional estimates for the year ending June 2024 suggest that there were 1,194 casualties in collisions involving both private and rented e-scooters.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to ban the use of (a) cages for (i) laying hens and (ii) other animals and (b) close confinement systems for (A) sows and calves and (B) other animals in farming environments.

We remain firmly committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare and want to work closely with the farming sector to deliver high standards. The use of cages and other close confinement systems for farmed animals is an issue which we are currently considering very carefully.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of (a) increasing protections for sellers in conveyancing processes, in the context of levels of protections in (i) Scotland and (ii) Australia where bids to buy houses are binding once accepted and (b) requiring sellers to provide a full legal pack.

I refer the Hon Member to (a) the answer given to Question UIN PQ 32038 on 28 February 2025, and (b) the answer given to Question UIN PQ 18947 on 20 December 2024.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of providing local authorities with the ability to use automatic number-plate recognition in car parks to help (a) increase the efficiency of payment collection, (b) improve enforcement and (c) reduce risks to civil enforcement officers.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to PQ 17350 on 12 December 2024.

With reference to the NHS's 2025/26 priorities and operational planning guidance, published on 30 January 2025, what steps his Department is taking to include health infrastructure planning decisions in the scope of the commitment to streamline planning.

The Government is committed to delivering a National Health Service that is fit for the future. This means we need to see world class NHS infrastructure across the entire NHS estate. Beyond hospitals, we know we need the right infrastructure in the right place to deliver a true Neighbourhood Health Service and to ensure that patients receive the care they deserve. The Department of Health and Social Care is working closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government on how to extend our collective interactions in the planning process, from local plan making to negotiating developer contributions, through updates to national guidance. This is alongside our support for the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government’s efforts to streamline the planning process, by extensively feeding into the ways in which health infrastructure plans can facilitate this.